PULSE - Europe beyond the beat

The regulatory vacuum

Tireless donors, fragile laws: this is how Europe chases the 'super sperm donor'

With sperm donation births on the rise, Europe is confronted with a regulatory vacuum that allows 'super-donors' to father dozens of children in several countries. Without a common registry, the risk of incest and genetic problems grows

19 July 2025

4' min read

In an ageing Europe struggling to maintain its birth rates, reproductive medicine has become a pillar of demographic and health policies. But at the heart of the system lies an anomaly: the proliferation of the so-called 'super sperm donor', the man who, between international travel and poor regulation, generates dozens - sometimes hundreds - of children in different countries. It is a phenomenon that throws health systems into crisis, raises ethical questions and fuels fears, far from unfounded, of unconscious inbreeding.

The European paradox: growing demand, uneven rules

The data are clear: the demand for male gametes is growing everywhere. Increasing numbers of infertile couples, but also requests from single women or same-sex couples. In this scenario, many states rely on international sperm banks, often located in countries with less restrictive regulations such as Denmark or Spain.

But here the problems begin. Each country sets by law a maximum number of children per donor - six in Spain, 10 in Italy and France, 12 in Greece - but there is no European register or cross-tracking system. The result? A donor can reach the legal limit in one country and start from scratch elsewhere.

The exception that becomes the norm: the Italian case

In Italy, Law 40/2004, amended in 2014 by the Constitutional Court, now allows heterologous fertilisation, but only for infertile heterosexual couples, effectively excluding singles and same-sex couples. The maximum number of children conceived by the same donor is set at 10. However, there is no national register to track donor births - and above all, no control is provided for imported gametes.

This is where the risk creeps in: Italy imports most of its sperm from foreign banks, mainly Danish and Spanish. If a donor has already reached the limits in his home country, there is nothing to prevent him from generating more children through Italian clinics. Without a centralised database or supranational cooperation, the risk of genetic overexposure increases exponentially.

European initiative: timid steps towards coordination

A first attempt at harmonisation came on 20 June 2024, when Sweden and Belgium proposed a common regulation, supported by France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Spain. The aim: to impose a European ceiling on the number of children per donor and to create a shared network between the health authorities of the different member states.

The SoHO (Substances of Human Origin) Regulation, published in the EU Official Journal on 18 July 2024, goes in this direction. It imposes minimum quality and safety standards for all 'substances of human origin', including gametes, embryos, breast milk and bone marrow. But it still leaves plenty of leeway for national laws. States will have until 2027 to transpose it, but the creation of a shared European database is still only a hypothesis.

The trap of anonymity and the right to identity

Another critical point is the anonymity of the donor. While France has started to allow children, once they have come of age, to know some basic information (including age, skin colour, state of health), other countries - such as Austria or Greece - maintain completely or partially anonymous systems.

In Greece, for example, the law provides from 2022 for the 'ID-release' option, a not completely anonymous way of sperm donation, which allows the child born from donation to have access to the donor's identification data once he or she turns 18. But few donors have adopted it and there is a lack of clear protocols for exercising this right.

The cost of generosity: business or altruism?

While in theory the donation should be altruistic, the reality is more nuanced. In Italy, there is no direct compensation, but elsewhere - such as in Greece or Spain - donors receive between 50 and 400 euros per donation as reimbursement of expenses. In Denmark, some sperm banks offer larger reimbursements and online catalogues where donors can be chosen according to physical characteristics, aptitude and even IQ.

The risk is that economic interest may induce some individuals to donate repeatedly, even circumventing local regulations - and this is how so-called 'super-donors' are born, some of whom have admitted to having fathered more than 100 children in various countries, often without any up-to-date medical check-up or cross-genetic screening.

Italy at a crossroads: between conservatism and regulatory gaps

Italy, for now, remains on the margins of the European debate. It has not joined the initiative of Sweden and Belgium, and has not proposed structural reforms to close regulatory loopholes. However, some experts and jurists have begun to raise the urgency of introducing: a national registry of donor births; a traceability system for imported gametes; and a common protocol for the protection of minors born by these techniques.

As long as these measures remain a dead letter, the risk is that Italy - like most of Europe - will rely on the good faith of donors and the responsibility of clinics. This is a fragile strategy, which in the long run could undermine confidence in a delicate sector that is central to the continent's demographic future.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project Pulse and was contributed by Kostas Zafeiropoulos (Efsyn, Greece), Andrea Muñoz Marín (El Confidencial, Spain) and Kim Son Hoang (Der Standard, Austria)

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